Like this:

Happy Thanksgiving, my darlings! We’re not doing much for Thanksgiving around here this year, but what we are doing is mixing up some delicious cocktails for the occasion.

This “Apple Pie Cocktail” is our current favorite. It’s an adaptation from one of my favorite vintage Patrick Duffy books and it’s a delight. It’s a refreshing cocktail with seasonal notes of fruit and apples. Be careful with this one! It goes down really smooth so pace yourself. Now go rummage through grandma’s liquor cabinet for that apple brandy and start mixing!

Shake well with ice and strain into a glass. I garnished mine with a pie crust spiral.

To make the pie crust spiral, just take a strip of pie dough and wrap it around the handle to a metal spoon or something similar and bake for 10-15 minutes. Remove the spiral from the mold before it completely cools and is still somewhat pliable and then let cool completely.

Like this:

Tomorrow is the 4th of July and I don’t know about you, but I plan on laying poolside with a tropical umbrella drink in my hand. I like to be as festive as possible with my holidays so I decided to do a layered red, white, and blue cocktail based on my favorite tiki style drinks.

First mix the pineapple juice and grenadine in a glass. Add crushed ice. Add blue curaçao (pour over an upside down spoon, it helps the liqueur land evenly and not too heavily). Add coconut rum in the same manner. Garnish.

When you’re ready to drink it, use a straw to mix it all up and enjoy!

Like this:

One of the main things I wanted to do when we moved into our new place was to give our patio a makeover and get it all prettied up for outdoor entertaining and lounging. I’m happy to report phase one of that is done! (I’ll be sharing more about that soon.)

To celebrate I invited some of my new neighbors over and threw a little shindig with the help of Risata Wines. My neighbors didn’t want their photos shown because of privacy reasons, but I did get some photos of my pre-party set up on the new patio.

Hooray!

I invited everyone over for a quick meet and greet so I set out different types of Risata Wines and some snacks to nosh on. I wanted a casual vibe so all I did was lay everything out on a table and a few chairs scattered around.We also hung string lights to add a nice glow in the evening hours. Don’t the mylar balloons spelling out happy phrases look great against our new hedge? I’m thinking about leaving these up full time!We also served a fruity moscato punch that’s super easy to make. All you have to do is puree a handful of strawberries and a handful of pineapple in a pitcher.Then pour in a bottle of chilled Risata Moscato d’Asti and give it a quick stir.Serve cold with a strawberry to garnish!

I can’t wait to entertain more here!Cheers to summer celebrations!

This post was sponsored by Risata®, but as always all opinions and thoughts are my own.

In honor of today being World Cocktail Day I figured it would be the perfect time to tell you about Shaker & Spoon, a cocktail subscription club that I tried out this month! Shaker & Spoon sends you everything you need to make 3 different cocktail recipes (4 of each, 12 cocktails total). We’re talking syrups, bitters, garnishes, mixers, citrus—everything is included besides the alcohol. Each month is based on a different spirit, so you have the opportunity to try something new with each box. It also makes a great gift for the cocktail lovers in your life.

This month was the agave blanco box. Tequila! My favorite.It was stocked with produce, syrups, bitters, chiles, and even a little bottle of tajin to rim glasses.The easy to follow recipe cards give you all the info you need from instructions to what type of glass to use. The first recipe I tried was a refreshing cocktail made with cucumber, chili pepper, and limes.

The next one is a Mexican version of a moscow mule. It was made with a delicious Mexican spice syrup and ginger beer.

Last but not least, a spicy recipe featuring mole bitters, habanero shrub, and agave!

Thirsty yet? You can sign up now and receive $20 off any subscription with the discount code ‘melodrama’!

The next box is Sake (the Japanese fermented rice liquor) and Shaker & Spoon will be donating a portion of proceeds to the Helen David Relief Fund, which assists women in the bar industry who are fighting breast cancer. If you’d like to further support this great cause and will be in Las Vegas on May 19th, you can attend the annual For the Love Of Cocktails event! They will be raising money for the HDRF and showcasing 35 cocktails by bartenders from around the country.

Cheers, babies!

This post was sponsored by Shaker & Spoon but as always, all thoughts and content are my own.

You know the ones! Those chocolate eggs filled with a sweet candy creme. They’re everywhere! My husband brought some home and instead of just sitting around eating them we decided to get creative at cocktail time.

I present you the Cadbury Creme Fizz!

This recipe makes two drinks:

4oz Vodka

2 tsp Heavy Cream

1 tsp Maraschino Cherry Syrup

Creme from two Cadbury Creme Eggs

Club soda

In a mason jar or cocktail shaker pour the vodka, heavy cream, cherry syrup, and Cadbury Egg Creme. Whisk vigorously to make sure the egg creme is well incorporated. Add ice, cover, and shake well until the outside is frosty. Strain into two coupes, top with club soda, and serve with a Cadbury Creme Egg.

That’s right! Garnish with your left over Cadbury Egg chocolate shells. It tastes so good when you eat the chocolate along with sipping the cocktail. Yum yum.

Like this:

We all have traditional comfort foods and drinks that taste like the holidays to us. You know, the ones that you just can’t do without and look forward to having once a year, every year? For my husband it’s Coquito, a creamy Puerto Rican coconut and rum based drink. For him it’s just not really Christmas without it.

Every family has their own recipe and preferred way of making it, some use egg yolks making it more of an eggnog-like drink, but the mainstays are always coconut cream and rum, and lots of it.

Directions

You’ll be making a sort of tea with the ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. First, peel the ginger and chop into large chunks. Place the ginger in a medium saucepan and muddle until all pieces are smashed. Then, add the cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, and water to the pan, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Once it reaches a boil, lower heat, and simmer until the water turns brown, about 20 minutes.

Once the tea is ready, strain into a large measuring cup, you should be left with about 1 to 1.5 cups of liquid.

Add evaporated milk, coconut cream, coconut milk, sweetened condensed milk, rum, vanilla extract, ground cinnamon and 1 cup of the tea to a blender (or a large bowl if using immersion blender) and blend on high for 1 to 2 minutes, until everything is well blended.

Pour the Coquito into glass bottles or mason jars and refrigerate until it’s cold. Once it’s ready to serve, shake the bottle or jars to make sure everything is well combined, pour into small serving glasses, and top with a light sprinkle of ground cinnamon.